Read More

Last year, between 9 December and 9 January, Exmouth’s volunteer Crew were called out to five dog rescues.

Roy added: "Unfortunately, one was a fatality.

"This of course is devastation for the owners but as dog lovers ourselves, it affects us too. Please use a lead no matter how familiar your dog is with the area, especially on cliffs and by fast moving water.

"The most well-trained dogs can fall off cliff tops as they can easily be distracted by wildlife and other things."

What happens when you call for the coastguard?

There are many UK Coastguard operations rooms positioned around the UK that are manned 24 hours a day. They control and mobilise search and rescue assets such as the coastguard rescue teams, RNLI lifeboats and the coastguard helicopters, to sea or coastal incidents.

When you dial 999 for the coastguard, it is the ops room staff that you speak to directly.

Read More

There is no on-call allowance for being a coastguard, only modest expenses - and they can be expected to be called out 24/7, 365 days a year, by pager.

Individual members respond when they are available to do so.

(Image: Plymouth Coastguard)

What can the coastguard rescue teams do?

The primary roles are:

Water Rescue

The team are fully trained in coastal water rescue.

They can initiate immediate rescue of persons in the water. The team are also able to retrieve persons cut off by the tide using wading techniques, set up bank-side safety for searching challenging areas and runner rescue where we can use urban features to secure ourselves in a hostile environment for example retrieving a casualty from the end of s pier in stormy weather.

Read More

The team carry and have been trained to use a comprehensive first aid kit which includes advanced measures such as airways, bag valve mask, neck collars, pelvic splint and tourniquets etc.

All members of the team have completed a first response course in casualty care with a focus on trauma.

Search

The team are highly trained in search techniques for missing/despondent persons within the literal coastal area.

The team has person profiling for different types of incident and excellent local knowledge of our coastal environment.

They can also call upon further assets such as lifeboats and helicopters to further increase our probability of detection, and are soon to further improve our search training and will be moving to a new search protocol called LAMPS which will better integrate us with the police by using the same search protocol.

(Image: Facebook/Torbay Coastguard)

Rope Rescue

The team are qualified in technical rope rescue meaning we can access, stabilise and retrieve a casualty.

They carry 200m of rope on the vehicle which is far more than needed for any cliff in are area, and can also provide this skill for vertical rescue into boats or rock armour where needed.

Read More

The team carry two types of stretcher on their vehicle both of which can be used to carry patients from a point of danger to a point of safety. They often work alongside the ambulance service with injured casualties on beaches/difficult to access areas.

TEP

HM Coastguard also have a responsibility to pyrotechnics and ordinance such as old bombs washed up on the coastline.

The team are trained to assess these incidents and implement a cordon. The Coastguard can use exemptions to transport marine flares/ pyrotechnics. With ordinance the coastguard will liaise with local Royal Navy EOD to arrange recovery and disposal of the item.

(Image: File picture)

Helicopter landing sites

In poor weather where the coastguard helicopter cannot land at the hospital the team will deploy and set up an emergency landing site.

To do this the team will choose a suitable location and secure the site. They will complete a sweep for foreign objects due to dangers from helicopter downdraft and relay weather condition/ wind direction to the incoming aircraft.

Read More

The coastguard operate a 4x4 vehicle with off-road tyres and have the ability to travel through areas of rough terrain or equally snow/sand etc.

Across the coast this was utilised during snow earlier in the year.

Communication

With the vehicle and individual VHF radios they have the ability to speak to other teams, and rescue assets such as lifeboats and rescue helicopters. They provide the eyes and ears for HM Coastguard operations centres.

The 999 Control room in Falmouth also operates airwave communication to keep in touch with the other three emergency services if required.